Tom Bartenfield

The Cartersville News

Cartersville, Georgia

August 15, 1907, Page 1

Transcribed by:

Four Men Dead
Three Badly Injured
Bartow Boy Among the Killed in Awful Railroad Wreck Near Dalton.

Four are dead and three are seriously injured as a result of a head-on collision between local No. 49 and an extra north, two freight trains of the W. & A. railroad, the wreck occurring one mile north of the city this afternoon about 5 o’clock.

The dead are:
J. L. Heggie, engineer on the southbound train and his fireman, John Roach; C. F. Colbert, head brakeman on the northbound train, and Tom Bartenfield, a brakeman on the southbound train.

Fireman Jumped.
Fireman Suddeth, on extra north, saw the oncoming train and jumped. He escaped without a scratch. Mr. Suddeth, who is a resident of Atlanta in speaking of the wreck said:

“The collision occurred because we did not look at the orders. I had forgotten to glance over the orders after leaving Dalton, when suddenly I thought of the southbound local. I looked out of the window just in time to see No. 49 coming around the curve. The engine was nearly on us and I screamed out to the engineer to jump. He did not hear me and I hesitated a moment and then jumped. This slight hesitation was all that saved me, for the cars piled up over the spot where I would have undoubtedly have landed.

Mr. J. L. Heggie, the engineer who was killed, lived in Tunnel Hill. He had been on the road for a long time and was one of the most reliable employees. When dug from under a pile of rubbish his body was found to be terribly mutilated. His face was mashed beyond recognition. The body of Roach was held down by the trucks from under one of the cars. His body was also terribly mashed. Bartenfield and Colbert’s bodies were buried under cars.

Roach and Bartenfield were both resident of Dalton, as is Dan Dilbeck, who is suffering from a deep gash in the head.

Killebrew From Atlanta.
J. B. Killebrew, the engineer who was seriously hurt in the head and body, is a resident of Atlanta. His injuries are dangerous, but the physicians say that he has a fairly good chance to recover. Cooper, the other injured brakeman, is also a resident of Atlanta.

When the wrecking trains arrived from Chattanooga darkness had come on and the raising of the wreck was carried on by the flickering light from torches and lanterns. To add to the awe-inspiring scene a rain began and when the cars under which were the bodies of some of the victims were raised a gruesome sight was revealed. They were mangled until it was absolutely impossible to recognize them. Cars were piled in a ditch which ran alongside the track and the two engines lay side by side on a small incline. This wreck occurred within a few hundred yards of the spot where a passenger train was wrecked about eight months ago. It was in this wreck that one man was killed and Charlie Barrett, the well known Atlanta engineer, was seriously injured.

The above was a dispatch from Dalton to the Atlanta Constitution. Our Kingston correspondent sends us the following regarding the death and funeral of Clyde Colbert:

On last Thursday evening at 6:30 o’clock the news was received at Kingston that Clyde Francis Colbert was killed in a wreck that occurred a mile above Dalton at 4:30 o’clock.

There was a gloom cast over our whole town—can it be possible that Clyde, whom we all saw sitting by his mother at church Sunday, is dead seemed to be on every body’s lips.

From two until three o’clock that afternoon the freight on which he was braking was doing work at this place. William Colbert, brother of the deceased, spent the time with him while here. The body arrived here Friday morning at six o’clock.

The funeral services were held at the Methodist church Saturday morning at eight o’clock and were conducted by Rev. W. H. Cooper and Rev. Ben Graham, of Bolton, Ga., after which the procession proceeded to the cemetery near Euharlee.

Prof. J. Groves Colbert, a brother, was here from Auburn, Ga.

For a year or two Clyde had been at the State University, but in November was called to the bedside of his sick father who died soon after. After his death he did not return to college, but it was his intention to do so.

While at college, he stood at the head of his class, was editor of the college paper, and a leader in the Y. M. C. A. His death occurred just twenty days before his twenty-fifth birthday.

Thos of the immediate family who survive him are three brothers, Groves, Frank and William Colbert and his mother, Mrs. Clio Colbert. The bereaved family have the heartfelt sympathy of the whole community. [Another article about this death can be found in the September 19, 1907 issue, page 5.]